C'est par ici le bonheur

New t-shirt “c’est par ici le bonheur”. You send us the most wonderful clothes @adlinedidine @sarah.pomaret @arthur.pomaret. Thank you! We can’t wait for a day wearing this today.

On Monday I went to a day of talks at the Down’s Syndrome Association headquarters organised by our local parent-run charity 21&Co. The talks were for parents of children with Down’s Syndrome and were on dentistry, wills and trusts, and vision. I learned so much, and there was so much to take in. It was amazing. I came home spilling all I’d learned to Kevin eagerly, and delighted with what I now knew which could inform how we do things. I had pages of notes.

On Tuesday (yesterday) I met Coraline’s speech therapist and she’s brilliant and we went through a lot of exercises we can do with Coraline. These will entail thought during things we do daily, we won’t simply do things like sing nursery rhymes or eat snacks as they are, but we will be building learning in to them, and all we do. I will take photos of what we do daily to have as a set of photos to show Coraline before we do them so she knows what we’re about to do e.g. go in the car, as children with Down’s Syndrome have a strength in visual learning.

And so then, when Kevin came home yesterday evening, the ebullience had gently tipped into overwhelm at all there is to know, practise, consider and do.

Vision is not just vision, dentistry is not just dentistry, speech is not just speech.

And what did Kevin say, “it’s so good to express it. That’s so important. Let me help you. Let’s work our what I can do. You don’t have to do it all at once. Let’s make a list. She’s amazing our girl. You’re amazing. I love our life. Look how she shines already”. Kevin knows I love lists.

At our local “Get on Down’s” group this morning, for chat and playing.

We went and looked at her sleeping and looked at how rich our lives are since Coraline has arrived. I was grateful for all we have, and appreciative of all we have. Calmness lapped at the corners of the sea of overwhelm. Gratitude and appreciation and being kind to yourself and accepting whatever you’re feeling: “c’est par ici le bonheur”. #love#appreciation#gratitude